A Single Shiny Red Apple
by coldfiredragon
Summary: Sometimes the smallest things reveal the biggest problems. One-shot, light 1x2, ratings for dark themes


**I haven't written GW fic in years so I'd really like to know what everyone thinks of this. I know its short, but comments are really important. Thanks in advance. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, I won't make any money off this. **

**Summary: Sometimes the smallest things reveal the largest problems. **

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The final trigger was an apple. Heero should have seen the signs sooner, and blames himself. It had been a little over a year since the end of the Mariemaia incident – a little over a year without their Gundams, a little over a year without a purpose... and Duo was falling apart.

He hid it extremely well. He hid it so well that Heero still wouldn't have known that anything was wrong if it hadn't been for that damned apple. They had lived together for almost nine months and it had taken one single shiny red apple to make Heero see just how damaged and fragile Duo really was.

The war was supposed to be over. The earth sphere and the colonies had moved on. They were celebrating peace. They were celebrating the end of an era that had revolved around mobile suits and endless battle. The world had moved on and Heero had foolishly thought they had too. _He_ had settled! Mr. Perfect Soldier. and he was so sure that if he had been able to move on then Duo had too. He couldn't have been more wrong.

Heero stared at the apple and it stared back at him innocently, its flawless red surface gleaming merrily in the light of their apartment's living room. The young man considered striking it off the table and smashing it into the carpet but doing so would only unsettle Duo and the long haired pilot had only just fallen asleep. Heero combed his fingers through his partner's hair instead and murmured soft words of reassurance when Duo tensed under his gentle touches and curled tighter against him.

He should have noticed dammit. He should have noticed that Duo was slowly falling apart under the facade he so easily wore. Heero continued to comb his fingers through his lover's hair with one hand and gently ran his thumb across Duo's cheek, over the now dry tear tracks. He glanced at the apple again and silently swore at it – at it and what it represented.

Duo couldn't stop thieving. He didn't even realize he did it most of the time. The urge and need were so deeply ingrained in his psyche. It was a survival instinct -- one that Duo had lived with since he was too young to remember. One that had been forced on him because he had grown up an orphan. The training he had received as a Gundam pilot had only enforced it. He had been trained to blend in, to adapt and disappear. Doctor G had taught him to become nothing more then a shadow when he needed to be and to do whatever he needed to survive. When he had tried he was an even better stealth agent then Heero ever hoped to be. Even his damn Gundam had catered to that training. Duo had been taught to get into a situation without being detected, take only what he needed, then disappear again.

It was making civilian life a living hell for him and Heero had only realized it when he had come home this evening to find Duo crying into his hands and the blasted red apple sitting in front of him on their coffee table.

"_I can't stop Hee-ro."_ Heero tried to block Duo's broken whisper from his mind. "_I don't even realize I'm doing it."_ Heero remembered how the tears had spilled from those violet eyes he loved so much and slowly tracked down Duo's cheeks. "_I think I'm going crazy."_ Heero had pulled him close after that whispered admission and had eventually coaxed Duo into the state he was in now. He gently pet his hands through Duo's silky waist long hair and sighed.

Duo whimpered in his sleep and Heero did his best to soothe him with soft words and gentle touches. He couldn't lose him. He couldn't. Duo was the only thing that mattered in his world. He the lynchpin of his sanity and without him... then Heero knew he would be lost too.

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**Feedback? Please? I would love it. Thank you! **


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